


talk is cheap

by hugeboymino



Series: i'm going to make supreme hope relevant [2]
Category: Daenamhyup | DNH, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: 17.5k words and absolutely nothing happens, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, it's incredible, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hugeboymino/pseuds/hugeboymino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>there were many instances in hoseok’s life when he regretted ever getting out of bed. somehow, absolutely every single one of them included namjoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	talk is cheap

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a week since [hoseok](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7zh56PCUAIrsk3.jpg) used [donghyuk's](http://fuckyeah-supremeboi.tumblr.com/post/75140093852/130820) studio and i'm still not over it  
> anyway i wrote this monster in 2 days i hope it was worth it  
> s/o to [mightyirony](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mightyirony) for convincing me that this isn't absolute bullshit  
> enjoy!!!

there were many instances in hoseok’s life when he regretted ever getting out of bed. somehow, absolutely every single one of them included namjoon. like that one time in sixth grade, for example, when namjoon talked him into sneaking into a dog pound to feed the starved mutts, and they ended up being caught red-handed by the owner. hoseok’s leg still twitched nervously at the remembrance of the embarrassing event, and namjoon’s passionate speech about animal rights and the outright abuse they experience while locked up in kennels as they were dragged out by their collars.

this time, it seemed, it wouldn’t be any different. truthfully, hoseok should’ve learned by now that nothing good would ever come out of namjoon’s texts. that’s why he couldn’t help the groan that left his mouth when he opened his eyes and saw a notification light pulsing on his phone. he tentatively unlocked the screen and was met with two new kakaotalk messages from the culprit himself.

> **12:36 runchranda:** meet me at the cafe in 30  
>  **12:36 runchranda:** got something to tell you

in hoseok’s defense, he’d seriously considered rejecting him. it wasn’t difficult to type in the simple letters – ‘n o  g o  f u c k   y o u r s e l f’ – but hoseok was just too nice for that sort of thing. with a heavy sigh leaving his lips, he typed in a few words and an emoticon and dropped his phone somewhere between the sheets, possibly never to be found again, to saunter towards the bathroom for his morning routine.

> **12:38 hobi:** ok i’ll see you there ^^

 

namjoon was late. there was nothing new about that – he’d probably managed to get lost along the way even though namjoon’s dorm and hoseok’s apartment aren’t that far from the café they were supposed to meet in – so hoseok calmly ordered a chocolate cappuccino and strummed his fingers against the plastic table top, scrolling through the timeline on his twitter application.

“sorry i’m late,” came a breathless reply from somewhere above him after approximately five minutes of mindless scrolling, “traffic jam.”

“namjoon, you don’t drive,” hoseok reminded him just as namjoon plopped down elegantly on the plastic chair, the furniture shaking underneath the sudden weight. namjoon was tall and lanky and every bit a law student if you could ever imagine how one looked like. he was wearing his reading glasses today, a pair of ray bans with a thick rim, that he’d probably forgotten to take off after he was done surfing the politics section on online portals.

“i meant the traffic lights didn’t work so i had to take the longer route,” namjoon tried again. hoseok didn’t even look up at him properly when he said, “you literally just need to cross the street to hongdae,” after that, namjoon gave up on making excuses.

hoseok’s cappuccino arrived just in time for namjoon to go off on one of his usual rants about suga. he sipped on the beverage, zoning namjoon’s words out until they were nothing but a hum just barely reaching his eardrums, focusing instead on thinking about the main thesis of his advanced biology paper that he _should_ be writing right now, not wasting time with namjoon like this.

“suga finally released his new song and i listened to it this morning, i woke up at five am to listen to it, and it’s really good, y’know? it’s just so _him_ , like, i can’t explain it-”

it took exactly ten minutes of constant rambling for hoseok to finally stop listing the specific features of turbellaria in his head and focus on namjoon instead, all thanks to a sudden _bang_ of namjoon’s hand on the table top between them. when they made eye contact, namjoon’s glare was murderous and hoseok didn’t have much choice but to pay attention anymore.

“anyway as i was saying before i realized that you rudely weren’t even listening to me at all,” namjoon repeated bitterly, “i bought us tickets for supreme suga’s show this friday and you can’t say no because i sacrificed this month’s food worth of money for them.”

“you did _what_ ,” hoseok asked, baffled, before it dawned on him, “ _that’s_ why you were late.”

“they were the last two tickets, hoseok. _last two_! what was i supposed to do? let an opportunity like this slip right from our fingers?” namjoon pulled out the two thin slips of paper out of his pants pocket, “look at them. this is my ticket into suga’s pants. quite literally.”

“you need help,” hoseok declared. suddenly he didn’t feel like finishing his cappuccino, “i’m not going to your stupid show. you know i hate places like that.”

“you hate everything that includes social interaction with more than two people you don’t know,” namjoon spat and hoseok flinched. well, there was no denying that, “come on, i’ll be there. i need to get suga to listen to my mixtape. don’t let me starve for nothing.”

and then, then namjoon did the unspeakable.

slowly, he leaned over the table, closer to hoseok, thick lower lip protruding in a pout. he made extra sure that his curly black locks were falling into his eyes, that his reading glasses were crooked on his nose, looking absolutely crestfallen.

namjoon’s puppy face was a weakness that hoseok never learned how to fight. with every second he could feel his resolve crumbling like a shaky jenga tower, and when namjoon added an innocent blink of wide, doe eyes as well, he knew there was no way of escaping now.

“fine,” hoseok agreed, reluctantly, “but if you dare to leave me there hanging out by myself, i’m leaving immediately,” that wasn’t a serious threat since both boys knew that hoseok would be too terrified of walking the streets of hongdae alone at night, but at least it let him save some of his pride.

namjoon’s pout transformed into a shit eating grin worryingly quickly and hoseok had never regretted a decision so fast before.

 

the weekend came too fast for hoseok’s liking. usually he would be ecstatic to wake up on a friday, because he had only three hours of lab practice on fridays and the rest of the day free to catch up on missed schoolwork and maybe even start working on his paper, except, now he couldn’t do either of those things.

he woke up to another text from namjoon – a short reminder of ‘ _don’t forget about tonight_ ’ – and how could he forget, hoseok thought, he’d been thinking about nothing else since tuesday when the arrangement was made.  he dressed quickly into a pair of worn out jeans and an old hoodie because lab work meant dealing with dangerous chemicals and he couldn’t afford himself a new wardrobe at the moment.

his day at uni passed by relatively quickly, without setting anything on fire, and, despite his restless nerves, his mentor praised him several times through the practice. it made the walk back home just a little bit easier.

he found namjoon sitting on the stairs in front of his apartment door, fiddling with something on his phone, “working on lyrics?” hoseok asked, fishing out the keys from his backpack. namjoon jumped to his feet and locked his phone before nodding, “a sudden strike of inspiration,” he explained even though hoseok really didn’t care, and followed him inside like a duckling following its mother.

namjoon wasn’t kidding when he said he’d sacrificed a month’s worth of food money on the performance tickets. he sat on one of the height adjustable chairs in front of the counter in hoseok’s kitchen and watched his best friend’s back as he prepared lunch for the both of them.

“i thought these sorts of things were free,” hoseok said after he placed two steaming hot bowls of store bought instant ramyun on the counter, “underground shows, etcetera.”

it took a while for namjoon to swallow the noodles in order for him to answer properly, “yeah but supreme suga are, like, a huge deal in the underground. and they have tuition fees to pay, too, so they didn’t have a choice.”

“i’m honestly surprised you’re not at the campus right now following suga around,” hoseok said, “what did you say his real name was again?”

“yoongi. min yoongi,” namjoon answered, eyes glazing over for a brief second, “and supreme boi is donghyuk.”

“right. well, i still don’t care,” hoseok waved with his chopsticks, a mouthful of noodles.

“you could at least, you know, listen to their music, like i’ve asked you to do a thousand times before,” hoseok didn’t miss the bitter tone in namjoon’s voice, “they’re hip hop. you like hip hop, so I’m sure you’d like them too, if you just gave them a chance.”

“and risk you bothering me with them even more than you usually do? nope. not today, not ever. this,” he gestured between himself, namjoon, and the tickets namjoon had taken out in the meantime and placed on the counter top, “is a one-time thing. after tonight, i don’t want to hear a word from you about either of them for like, at least a week. I deserve that much.”

“fine,” namjoon agreed, quieter, but out of the corner of his eye hoseok could see he was smirking and it left him with an uneasy feeling in his gut.

 

the pub the show was supposed to be held in was located in hongdae, pretty much just as everything else underground and indie related, hidden in the shadows and pretty plain from the outside. if one wasn’t looking for that pub specifically, they probably would’ve missed it. hoseok himself didn’t even realize there was a door with the name of the pub written in cursive on them until namjoon specifically pointed them out. feeling a bit silly, he followed namjoon  inside.

surprisingly, the pub was pretty crammed, with barely any free places to sit except the bar, “i can’t believe there are so many people here,” hoseok commented as they made their way towards the two free seats next to the bartender, “i told you, they’re pretty big in the underground,” namjoon explained, but hoseok wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, too fascinated by the names of the drinks on the menu.

“why are all these drink names so sexual?” hoseok asked out loud, not really expecting an answer, “look at this. _sex on the beach, orgasm_ , _slippery nipple_ … who even orders these things?”

“people don’t really pay attention to names once they’re drunk,” came a reply from the bartender. hoseok’s eyes snapped upwards, from the menu on the counter to the handsome man’s eyes, and he immediately felt his throat go dry. interacting with strangers _really_ wasn’t his forte.

“hey, seokjin hyung,” namjoon greeted the man and this time, hoseok stared at his best friend in bewilderment, “you know him?” he asked and namjoon simply shrugged his shoulders, “i’m kind of a regular here.”

“you never told me that,” hoseok even had the decency to sound a bit offended.

“you never asked,” namjoon answered with a cheeky grin. the bartender – seokjin, as namjoon had called him – passed him a drink without namjoon even having to order and instantly, hoseok felt too out of place.

“and for your friend?” seokjin asked, leaning over the counter to hear hoseok better. the sudden proximity of their faces had him falling a step backwards, bending his waist at an angle that would’ve been uncomfortable had hoseok not been so flexible, “what would you like? a _slippery nipple_ , perhaps?”

“uh, no thanks,” namjoon was silently laughing into his fist, looking like a maniac, and hoseok wished he could hit him, “i’ll just have a wine and coke, please.”

the show was supposed to start soon when hoseok remembered he had no idea how supreme suga looked like. he turned to namjoon with a worried expression, “when are they coming out?”

“soon, hopefully,” namjoon replied, eyes never leaving the stage. he was observing a nice, empty space in the second row. he’d prefer it to be the first, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. besides, he was tall enough compared to all these high school girls for yoongi to notice him in the crowd, “i mean, yoongi’s been dropping some hints in his lyrics for a while now and donghyuk says ‘no homo’ too much for someone who is one hundred percent straight, so it’s just a matter of time.”

“what?” hoseok blinked, then choked on his own spit, “no you absolute _idiot_ , i meant when are they coming out on _stage_!”

“oh. well, never. that’s pretty risky, you know? who knows if their fans are homophobic.”

“that’s not- you know what, never mind,” hoseok sighed, “i give up.”

the lights went off shortly after that, indicating that the show was starting soon. maybe. hoseok wouldn’t know, since he’d never been to one of these things before, but he had a pretty good hunch that he was right. feeling proud, he awarded himself with another wine and coke for seokjin to make until the duo made their appearance on stage.

the lights on the stage flared white just as two boys stepped on it. one of them was a few centimeters shorter than hoseok, dressed in an oversized hoodie and ripped jeans with a beanie covering a mop of what seemed to be an orange shade of hair, while his companion was a lot taller and bulkier, wearing simple shorts and a shirt, a bucket hat covering his eyes.

“is that them?” hoseok asked, turning to namjoon, but the slightly younger boy was nowhere to be seen. the seat that was previously occupied by him was now welcoming a strange kid, couldn’t be a day over eighteen, looking at him weirdly, “uh, sorry,” hoseok apologized stupidly, already imagining scenarios in which he kills namjoon in the most wonderful, satisfying ways in his head.

thankfully, since it was a tradition of some sorts, the two rappers introduced themselves before their song started, and so hoseok learned that the short, mean looking one was namjoon’s suga, while his friend was supreme boi. observing yoongi more closely, hoseok had to agree that he was just namjoon’s type, especially once they finally started rapping. hoseok faintly recalled namjoon’s words like ‘natural flow’ and ‘rhyme god’ from one of his countless, endless rants and now they finally made sense.

they were a good match, but hoseok grew bored too soon. he had one more wine and coke, because, well, seokjin offered one on the house with a subtle wink that got hoseok feeling all flustered in ways it really shouldn’t have and he couldn’t just say no to that. it would be too rude and hoseok was, in fact, a very nice person to whoever wasn’t namjoon.

the next two hours passed by slowly, with people exchanging seats on both hoseok’s sides while he carefully sipped on his drink like a kid drinking warm cocoa from a thermos. he even recognized jimin, a friend from the dance studio they both practiced at, but the younger didn’t recognize him and frankly, hoseok wasn’t in the mood for attempted small talk. he pretended not to hear seokjin talking to him during the show too many times to count. he observed the two rappers setting the crowd on fire, the mindless screams of their fangirls and namjoon’s deep voice of  “hyung! suga hyung! I love your work” from somewhere at the front, eyes flickering from one to another for some hints on when they will finally stop.

by the time the show neared its end, it was just short of one in the morning. hoseok’s thoughts drifted back to the opening statement in his biology paper, sitting on his laptop untouched since last week. when he looked back up, the stage was missing donghyuk, and yoongi was sitting on a chair with the first beats of a new song echoing through the cramped space. _namjoon must be on cloud nine now_ , hoseok thought to himself, finishing the remains of the drink in his glass in one go.

“good show,” he heard seokjin say behind him, but just as hoseok opened his mouth to answer that yeah, maybe, if it was shorter and with better stage effects, another voice spoke up instead, vaguely familiar, but not quite.

“it was fun,” the voice stopped to sit on the chair next to hoseok just like many people before, paused for its owner to drink whatever seokjin had offered to him, “the entire point of tonight was for suga to showcase his new song, anyway.”

“why couldn’t he just do so in the beginning and save me the trouble,” hoseok muttered more to himself than anyone else, but realized too late that it was loud enough for the newcomer to hear him, “you didn’t like the performance?”

“too long and boring,” hoseok heard seokjin chuckle at that and he didn’t dare to face the stranger, “i mean, they were alright as performers if you’re really into them, i guess. but five minutes into the show i already wanted to go home.”

“i think they were pretty good,” the stranger said, sounding far too amused for hoseok’s liking. he puffed his cheeks in annoyance.

“suga was good most of the time, but what was supreme boi even doing? he was just walking around the stage and spilling water over everyone and sometimes rapping. i don’t see the point in that, to be honest,” when there was no response for full thirty seconds, hoseok started to grow worried. maybe he’d just offended one of their most loyal fans? but it couldn’t’ve been namjoon – hoseok would’ve recognized him immediately, and maybe get a kick in the leg for saying all those things.

it was then that hoseok decided to turn around. in hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have. if he let the awkward silence stretch out for a bit longer, maybe the stranger would’ve left and spared him the inevitable embarrassment. this way, he only managed to have a heart attack with barely twenty-one years of age.

there he was. shin donghyuk, supreme boi himself, was sitting next to him, a glass in hand and a _too_ pleasant smile on his face.

“of course,” hoseok said out loud, feeling his heart dropping to his ankles, “it’s you.”

“nice to meet you,” donghyuk said, tipping his glass in greeting before downing everything at once. he left before hoseok could even open his mouth again, maybe to apologize, maybe to accidentally, but not really, insult him again, and all hoseok could think about was namjoon and just _how_ sharp the corners of his mixtape CD’s box are.

 

it was too difficult to get to suga after he’d finally climbed off the stage. yoongi’s tradition was to take pictures and sign autographs for his fans after every successful performance but namjoon forgot about the sheer number of those fans that only seemed to grow over time. at this point, he couldn’t even see yoongi from the swarm of fangirls surrounding him, the screeches of _yoongi oppa I love you please sign my tits_ and a shocked _you’re not even legal I can’t do that_ periodically repeating every few minutes.

he stood at the far back, waving his mixtape in the air like his life depended on it – which was sort of true – too shy to call out _hyung please notice me_. he didn’t want to risk those girls turning on him for stealing their oppa’s attention. he was outnumbered and honestly, girls were vicious.

he gave up after ten minutes of standing like a total creep next to a girl that was the size of a thirteen year-old but had the face of a noona, dragging his limp, oversized limbs towards the place from where hoseok hadn’t moved since the show started.

hoseok looked surprisingly ecstatic to see him, “heeeey, namjoon. namjoonie. my best bud. my blood brother but not really. did you like the show? it was good, right? it was good. right.”

“what did you do,” it wasn’t a question, but namjoon said it while laughing. hoseok’s face was paler than usual and he kept swallowing nothing and patting namjoon’s back in a friendly matter. he wouldn’t be laughing for long.

“uuuuhhh imayhavetoldsupremeboithathesucks, okay let’s go home now, i’m tired.” he pushed namjoon’s shoulder blades towards the exit, but his attempts proved futile because of their size difference.

“what?” namjoon asked, laughter dying down immediately. he turned around and grabbed hoseok’s upper arms in a vice-like grip, “you did _what_ , hoseok-ah?”

“i, um, may have told supreme boi that he sucks,” hoseok repeated, reluctantly, and he was fairly certain that if they were in an animated movie, namjoon’s entire body would be flaming red and twitching. technically, he was flaming red and twitching even now, but he had much better control over it. scarily better, actually. namjoon inched closer and closer, the grip he had on hoseok growing stronger with each passing minute and hoseok lost all hope to see tomorrow’s light in one piece.

thankfully, the next morning, he only woke up with a black eye. 

 

> **13:44 runchranda:** i cant believe i broke my CD on your useless face  
>  **13:44 runchranda:** youre buying me food for this month i dont care

feeding namjoon for the entire month wasn’t an issue in itself. realistically, hoseok had been feeding namjoon since they both left home for university’s sake because namjoon wasn’t, and never would be able to take care of himself on his own.

the real issue was the fact that namjoon wouldn’t stop pestering him about what happened last friday. “you ruined everything i’ve worked so hard for,” and “go make me some black bean noodles,” became a standard in namjoon’s vocabulary over the past week.

“will you _ever_ let this go?” hoseok finally snapped one day, standing in the middle of the kitchen with his hair damp from the steam and a pink apron wrapped around his waist, “i fucked up and i said i’m sorry, can’t you let me live?”

“no,” namjoon replied smoothly from the couch he was lounging on. he was browsing through the TV channels instead of studying for his upcoming criminology exam, but namjoon was a genius, as he repeatedly pointed out himself, so the five hundred pages of literature he had to go through by wednesday posed no real threat for him, “your ‘sorry’ doesn’t do shit. i was _so_ close to getting yoongi hyung to listen to my mixtape.”

“namjoon,” he lifted his head up from the TV towards hoseok, who very much resembled a sassy mom with his left hand on his hips and a wooden ladle in his right, “honey. yoongi hyung didn’t even see you in the crowd. he has no idea who you are. let it go.”

satisfied that namjoon’s _shut up_ was muffled and defeated, hoseok went back to chopping vegetables, happily humming a girl group’s song along the way.

sometime around five in the afternoon, after they’d finished eating and hoseok had joined namjoon on the couch with namjoon’s long legs in his lap, namjoon came up with a brilliant idea.

“hoseok,” he nudged his friend with a toe in the stomach, but hoseok didn’t budge. his favorite drama was being broadcasted on tvN and he was much more interested in kitae and jangmi’s first kiss scene than namjoon poking him in the abdomen. it took exactly three innocent tries and one very dirty move in which namjoon shoved his foot into hoseok’s face to get his attention for hoseok to finally bark out an irritated “what?!”

“i just had, like, the best idea,” he lifted himself up into a sitting position and turned off the volume on the TV, earning himself a slap on the shoulder and a “what the hell was that for?”

“no, listen,” he grabbed hoseok’s cheeks and forced him to stay still, “this is perfect. you’ll apologize to donghyuk.”

now, hoseok was borderline furious, “i will do _what_?!?”

“apologize. to donghyuk,” namjoon seemed thrilled with this idea, while hoseok just really wanted to die, “no, shh, listen,” he covered hoseok’s mouth with his large palm even though hoseok hadn’t said anything in the first place, “donghyuk and yoongi are always together, right? so he’ll be there when you go apologize. and while you keep donghyuk busy, i’ll just smoothly seduce yoongi into considering listening to my mixtape. isn’t that like the best plan or what?”

hoseok harshly bit down on the inside of namjoon’s palm so he’d let him go, and then shoved him back into a lying position on the couch for good measure, “that is the stupidest idea i’ve ever heard. and you’re supposed to have an IQ of 148?”

“it’s literally so good. there is no way it can go wrong,” namjoon sounded extremely proud of himself. his typical cheeky grin was back in place, making his dimples more prominent than usual and threatening to split his face in half, “unless you fuck it up even more. if you do, i will willingly break all copies of my mixtape on your head.”

“shut up. i wasn’t even that bad.”

“you told the guy that he sucks. you told _supreme boi_ that his show was boring, how much worse could it get?”

“i could’ve told him he’s ugly. or it could’ve been yoongi i said all those things to,” hoseok pointed out, and ended up evading a slap in his direction.

“don’t you dare call yoongi hyung ugly, i will _cut you_ ,” namjoon threatened but those threats only developed into a weak fist fight in which hoseok managed to grab hold of the remote and turn up the volume again, just in time for the episode to finish.

“see what you did,” hoseok pouted, “you made me miss kitae and jangmi’s first kiss. now i have to wait until next week,” the fact that he was crushing namjoon’s head with his thighs didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest, “next week, namjoon! i’ve been waiting six episodes for this scene!”

“hoseok i’m going to die if you don’t let me go,” namjoon croaked out, already giving up on life. his face had turned a worrying shade of blue by the time hoseok untangled their bodies back into two separate beings instead of a terrifying lookalike of the human centipede.

around seven pm namjoon decided to sleep over at hoseok’s place, “my books are back in the dorm and i can’t sleep with monsters watching me,” he explained. hoseok spent the next thirty minutes sighing and putting namjoon’s pillow and blanket in the wash so they’d be done by the time they went to bed.

somehow, after eating a quick dinner that consisted of pork bulgogi and rice, namjoon talked hoseok into actually listening to his mixtape. (“see, if i could talk _you_ into it, i could talk yoongi into it too,” but hoseok didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was just saving himself early from namjoon’s annoying ways of persuasion.) the astonishing thing was that hoseok kind of liked it.

“well it’s no sistar or girl’s day,” he said, “but it can pass.”

“hoseok, i know that you have a twink reputation to uphold but i also know that you hug your a$ap rocky and beenzino albums before bed every night. you don’t need to pretend around me,” namjoon fell asleep with a pain in his rear that night.

 

hoseok was, for the lack of a better expression, socially awkward. sometimes hanging around namjoon for too long would help him forget that, but as soon as he was thrust into a social situation that, as much as he’d hate to admit it, _regretfully_ did not involve his best friend, his brain-to-mouth coordination would completely malfunction. to sum it up, hoseok didn’t have a good way with words around strangers.

jimin was different. he hadn’t known jimin for that long, but the boy was quite possibly the friendliest thing he’d ever seen, all smiles and polite bows and a cute voice when he called hoseok his hyung.

not many people knew this, but hoseok was a dancer. that characteristic didn’t match well with his personality and outer appearance, because hoseok was thin and plain and quiet at the university and around strangers. however, when jimin was announced as his new dance partner, the two kicked it off surprisingly well. maybe it was the fact that jimin and hoseok were very alike.

around the beginning of april, when hoseok finally finished all of his exams and turned in all of his papers, his dance practices intensified, giving him the perfect excuse to avoid namjoon and his constant nagging to stalk supreme suga around the campus.

“come on, hoseok,” namjoon whined from the door frame he was leaning on, watching hoseok bend over to put on his sneakers, “it’s been two weeks already,  when are we going to track them down so you can apologize?”

“never, if possible,” hoseok turned around to flash namjoon a winning smile, “i’m sorry, namjoon, but i couldn’t frequent the studio as much over the past two months and Ii sure as hell am not wasting my membership privileges that i so loyally pay for.”

“all that money that could’ve gone into buying chicken,” namjoon wistfully sighed, sinking down to his knees, “fine, do whatever you want.”

“you study for your exams,” hoseok reminded him before leaving, “you’ll never pass the bar exam if you keep this up.”

“but there’s so much time until graduation year,” however, hoseok left before he could hear the end of namjoon’s sentence.

the dance studio was pretty small, since hoseok could only handle so much social interaction at a time. jimin was already waiting for him in the practice room, doing stretching routines, “sorry, namjoon was being a pain in the ass as usual,” hoseok apologized hastily before dropping his bags on the laminated floor and joining jimin in front of the wall length mirrors.

“that’s okay. everyone knows you two are fucking anyway,” jimin said casually and hoseok nearly fell over and knocked his head, “what?!”

“i’m just kidding, gosh,” jimin laughed while watching hoseok scramble back to his feet, “namjoon hyung could tattoo _min yoongi please pay attention to me_ over his forehead and he _still_ wouldn’t get noticed.”

he had a point there, hoseok agreed. they spent the next ten minutes laughing at namjoon’s continuous failed attempts to get yoongi to notice him. jimin had never met namjoon personally but every aspect of hoseok’s life involved namjoon in one way or another, so the boy felt like he and namjoon were already friends.

“i listened to his mixtape, though,” hoseok said after they’ve finished stretching and jimin went to find his phone for the musical background, “the one he’s so desperately trying to sell. it’s really good.”

“i can’t believe that you admitted something namjoon has done is good,” jimin’s laughter died down after hoseok kicked his thigh with his foot, “if you ever repeat this to anyone i will kill you,” hoseok actually sounded serious so jimin decided it was best to shut up about it for now.

about thirty minutes into the practice, they were interrupted by a breathless boy bursting through the entrance door. hoseok indistinctly remembered seeing him somewhere, but couldn’t quite place the location or the time period. jimin seemed to recognize him, however.

“jeonggukkie!” he called, breaking their form to greet the newcomer. jeongguk smiled and accepted the sweaty hug jimin offered him. hoseok turned off the music and awkwardly approached the hugging pair, waving back at jeongguk when the boy did so first behind jimin’s back.

“hey hyungs,” jeongguk bowed after jimin let him go,”i’m sorry i’m late. i overslept.”

jimin waved it off as nothing, “that’s fine, as long as you’ve made it,” he wrapped a strong arm around jeongguk’s shoulders and squeezed him tightly to his side, “hyung, this is jeongguk. he was assigned later as our partner. we have to choreograph gioni’s ‘trigger’ for the competition next month.”

“competition?” hoseok felt his throat go dry, “i wasn’t informed of this.”

“it was sort of coach’s last minute decision. jeongguk joined the club pretty late but he’s hecka talented. how about we just give it a chance, hmm?”

jeongguk was, luckily, every bit as awkward as hoseok. he kept quiet during most of the practice and refusing to make eye contact with anyone, even himself in the mirrors, but jimin was telling the truth – he was a natural. the song was pretty difficult to choreograph, but jeongguk was helpful in his ideas and hoseok soon found himself relaxing. maybe dancing as a three won’t be so bad.

if only he could figure out where in the world he found jeongguk so familiar from.

 

sadly, hoseok couldn’t avoid namjoon much longer. three weeks into the incident, namjoon stopped by his apartment one day and dragged him outside while hoseok was still wearing his sweatpants and white shirt from practice.

“yoongi and donghyuk spend their weekends at this park near the university writing down lyrics,” namjoon explained as they power walked to their location, “how do you know this,” hoseok asked between quick intakes of breath. namjoon decided not to answer and hoseok was kind of grateful for it.

hoseok let himself be dragged behind a large bush blooming with early spring flowers. “there they are,” namjoon pointed towards the two boys sitting on a blanket on the grass next to a large _do not walk on grass_ sign, a notebook in each of their hands. they seemed to be meditating.

“why is everyone i hang out with so damn high all the time,” hoseok wondered out loud but namjoon shushed him. he pulled out a pair of large binoculars, focusing entirely on yoongi and his position on the grass.

“he seems to be relaxed,” namjoon said with a sigh of relief, “i was so worried that your words might’ve upset him.”

“they weren’t even directed _at_ him!” hoseok hissed, “and what the hell are you doing with those binoculars? put them down, you look like a creep!”

“can you be quiet for like one second of your life please,” namjoon leaned forward to get a better view of the outline of yoongi’s throat, his sharp jawline and head thrown back in thought, “he dyed his hair. it’s a dark brown now.”

“i really don’t care about any of this,” hoseok said, but namjoon wasn’t even listening to him, “okay, donghyuk’s eyes are open and he’s writing down something, that’s your cue, _now_!” and so, hoseok was pushed out of the safety of the bush, staggering right behind the famous duo they – namjoon, that is – were stalking.

his graceful movements alerted donghyuk, who turned around to the sounds of hoseok balancing himself so he wouldn’t fall flat on his nose. without a bucket hat on, hoseok had a clear view of his face and, whoa. okay. for a boring performer, he wasn’t all that bad looking.

“it’s you again,” donghyuk recognized him and hoseok wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good or a bad thing, “what brings you here? need someone to lull you into sleep with their rapping?”

by now, hoseok’s gotten even yoongi’s attention, the older looking at him with one eye open. he hadn’t moved from his meditating position though, while donghyuk turned around to look at him more clearly.

so maybe he _had_ hurt donghyuk’s feelings. honestly, the things he’d said weren’t even _that_ bad. he couldn’t decide if donghyuk was serious about it or not, because his tone was sour but his lips were stretched into a teasing smile.

“about that,” hoseok began nervously fidgeting in place, “i came here to, um,” how did namjoon said he should do this? he couldn’t remember, “apologize?”

“you sure? you don’t seem to know what you’re doing here,” donghyuk continued to smile, infuriating hoseok further.

“what i said the other day was… mean,” the word barely rolled off his tongue, “and i’m sorry about that. i’m a pretty casual fan of hip hop, so i don’t know what i’m talking about seventy-five percent of the time.”

“seems like it,” was he imagining things or did donghyuk just check him out? he sure as hell didn’t imagine his eyes going up and down, from the top of hoseok’s head to the tips of his converse, briefly stopping on his thighs, “but because of your input we’ve been working on some more… fun things, so i suppose we should be thanking you instead.”

yoongi gave a slight hum of approval, both his eyes closed now. hoseok couldn’t believe his ears. he stared at donghyuk like the poor man’d grown out a second head, “what do you mean?”

“you know, more songs that you can turn up to, instead of just standing there while someone spills water on you,” this time donghyuk was outright grinning at him and hoseok had never felt so conflicted.

“yoongi hyung!” a voice interrupted them, a scrambling of feet and namjoon’s clumsy frame entering their line of vision. yoongi spared him a quick glance before drawling out a bored, “who’s asking?”

“i’ve been a fan of yours for ages and you are the reason i became a rapper in the first place and it would be an honor if you could check out my mixtape and tell me what you think,” namjoon recited in one long breath, dropping the CD in yoongi’s lap on accident when he tried to breathe in a fresh gulp of air. donghyuk straight up burst out laughing then, doubling over on the blanket while yoongi stared at the CD in his lap blankly.

“right. okay. whatever,” he said, touching the CD like it was poisoned to put it next to his knee. right then hoseok decided that what was enough was enough, grabbing a heaving namjoon by the forearm.

“that was so fucking bad,” he complained their entire walk back home. namjoon was still too starstruck to respond to hoseok’s babbling, “’perfect plan that can’t go wrong’, my ass. i won’t be able to live this down for days. i hope you’re fucking happy.”

“i am,” namjoon finally said, once they were almost back in hoseok’s apartment, “yoongi said he’s going to listen to my mixtape. can you believe this? because i can’t!”

“yeah, me neither trust me,” hoseok groaned, “you do realize he will throw that CD in the trash where it belongs, right?”

“he didn’t say no,” namjoon beamed at him and hoseok felt bile rise in his throat at how disgustingly happy he looked when the both of them just made the biggest fools out of themselves, “just go sit in the living room. i’ll make us dinner.”

 

the following sunday was spent in its entirety at the dance studio, perfecting the choreography. hoseok had trouble with a few moves and jimin had to rush to meet his best friend taehyung who he had a movie night with preplanned, so that left only jeongguk and hoseok.

hoseok hadn’t missed the strange glances jeongguk kept sending his way when he thought he wasn’t paying attention. at first he thought it was because he was doing something wrong in the choreography, but he’d checked multiple times. everything was fine.

until they sat down to take a five, that was, “hyung, can i ask you something?”

hoseok was mid-gulp of water when jeongguk spoke up. he elegantly closed the cap and asked through a mouthful of water, “yeah, what is it?”

“do you like jimin hyung?”

“that dork? he’s nice i guess,” hoseok answered, a bit confused. the gulp of water he swallowed down too quickly got stuck in his esophagus, forcing him to cough it back out.

“nice,” jeongguk repeated. he plopped down in a lotus position next to hoseok, “he’s nice. what about namjoon hyung?”

even jeongguk learned about namjoon. hoseok was still so furious about what happened two days ago that he couldn’t help but rant about it to the two boys he was practicing with during a particularly difficult leg kick they were supposed to master.

“he’s alright on a good day,” hoseok admitted reluctantly over another sip of water, but then jeongguk continued, his next question making him spit everything all over the floor, “no, i mean, do you like like him?”

“why does everyone think he and i are a thing?! i wouldn’t let that oaf near my ass even if we were the last two men on earth!” his reaction might’ve been a bit overboard because jeongguk looked bewildered, “okay, sorry, that was a bit harsh. i meant i wouldn’t touch him with a stick even if that stick was two meters long.”

jeongguk had fallen suspiciously silent and after a few moments hoseok looked at him again, “why, uh, why do you ask?” he cursed his voice for giving out halfway through the question.

“nothing, it’s nothing,” jeongguk waved it off, “come on, let’s practice again. the transition between your body roll and the leg kick is still a bit off.”

he clearly wanted to change the subject and, hoseok supposed, that was okay. jeongguk was still a bit of enigma to him, but he wasn’t in a rush to get answers. they dropped the matters altogether and spent the next hour and a half practicing until hoseok could finally perform the entire choreography in one go.

 

“the competition is in may,” hoseok announced to namjoon on monday. namjoon was actually working, for a change, reading through the korean justice laws that he had to learn by heart, “i expect you’ll drag your lazy ass there, since it’s free for all.”

“hmm i don’t know if i can,” namjoon hummed, “yoongi hyung said he wants to meet up with me on the weekends and discuss music.”

“i said the competition is in may, you have plenty of time to change your sche- wait what?!”

namjoon dropped his macbook off his lap and crawled up to sit next to hoseok on the couch, eyes glistening with self-satisfaction, “he stopped me in the hallways yesterday. he actually went into the institute of law and looked for me,” hoseok was speechless, “he said he liked my mixtape and wanted to talk to me about it some more. ask me about my methods and what i plan on composing in the future. his exact words were: ‘here is my studio’s address. meet me there on the weekends so we can talk more.’” namjoon was threatening to explode any second, practically vibrating from excitement and hoseok had to still him so he wouldn’t fall over.

“okay, calm down, fuck,” hoseok swore, “you can’t be serious. how did he know your institute?”

“i don’t know. maybe he asked around,” namjoon seemed ecstatic at the idea of min yoongi asking strangers if they knew about him, “but i’m going to meet him this friday.”

“oh, goodie,” hoseok patted him on the back, “please control yourself and don’t freak him out too much, okay? and _don’t_ , i repeat, _don’t_ let him know that you know what his favorite pair of underwear is.”

“i don’t _know_ it for certain, but he wears the leopard printed ones too often if you ask me,” namjoon was ready to go into one of his rants again but hoseok commanded him to stop talking on time. they ended up eating dinner at hoseok’s place that night and namjoon left before nine pm this time, which was a miracle. he claimed he had an examination to study for, but hoseok knew that he was already planning what to wear on friday to impress yoongi as much as possible.

 

the last person hoseok expected to get a visit from in the chem lab was shin donghyuk.

namjoon sometimes visited him when he got bored or decided to skip classes – how that boy solved each and every one of his exams with a minimum of a 95% was beyond him – but that was about it. the chem labs were a restricted area either way, with only specialized personnel, professors and students with a special id card allowed to enter.

yet here they were, hoseok trying to prove that the hypothesis he was working on since the beginning of the semester worked both in theory and in practice when he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“what are you doing here?” he asked, completely forgetting that donghyuk kind of intimidated him, “no one is allowed here without an id pass.”

donghyuk waved a plastic card in front of his nose before entering the lab, “don’t think you’re the only friend i have in the science institute. _some_ of us are capable of having more than two friends at once.”

“what’s that supposed to mean,” maybe hoseok should’ve been more bothered by the implication behind donghyuk’s words – that he was bad at making friends, which hoseok himself believed to be true – but he was too busy trying not to spill sulfuric acid everywhere except the test tube, where it was supposed to go.

hoseok felt donghyuk inching closer behind him, until he could smell his eau de toilette mixing with the chemicals in the air, “oh god please step back before i vomit,” donghyuk simply laughed behind him and refused to move, “i’m serious, these scents don’t mix well,” to which donghyuk only replied, “if you can’t handle it, maybe you shouldn’t’ve become a scientist then.”

now that was just plain rude. hoseok finished dripping the sulfuric acid and carefully laid down the test tube in its provided space to wait for a reaction, if there ever was one, turning around to meet donghyuk with an angry stare.

“maybe you should mind your own business,” he tried to look intimidating, but the height difference between them was ridiculous. up close, donghyuk seemed to be even larger than on stage, arms crossed in front of him. the t-shirt he wore exposed his biceps and hoseok really tried not to let his gaze waver. he wasn’t going to check him out. he wasn’t.

“an eye for an eye, hoseok-ah,” the way donghyuk said his name couldn’t mean anything well. and how _did_ he know his name, anyway? his confusion must’ve been obvious because donghyuk’s explanation followed shortly after, “namjoon mentioned your name to yoongi, who naturally informed me about it.”

“right. well, thank you for this wonderful conversation. now if you don’t mind i have things to attend to,” hoseok  dismissed him with a wave, turning back to his chemical reaction. or well, a lack thereof. there were no changes in any of the test tubes, which could only mean that he had to start the equation all over again. he let out a loud ,frustrated groan, startling donghyuk in the process.

“how about you relax and come to our show on saturday? same place as last time, with new material,” hoseok frowned at that, “if i didn’t like it last time what makes you think i’ll like it this time,” but donghyuk’s reaction was simply to smile, “i promise it won’t be boring, at least.”

hoseok didn’t really believe that, but he really needed donghyuk to leave his lab. right now, “fine, fine, I might come, you happy now? can you leave already?”

“oh, you’ll come for sure,” donghyuk winked, “i’ll see you this saturday then. bye bye, hoseok-ah,” he left without giving hoseok time to react to the innuendo behind his words.

 

> **17:56 runchranda:** ok im in front of his studio now  
>  **17:56 runchranda:** about to enter  
>  **17:56 runchranda:** i might throw up all over his carpet but thats okay  
>  **17:57 runchranda:** if i never message you again just know that i love you even though youre a prick  
>  **17:57 runchranda:** and i leave you my collection of sunglasses and iphone cases in my will  
>  **17:58 runchranda:** ok here we go

namjoon hadn’t expected yoongi’s studio to be so… big. there was a separate recording booth connected to the room where they were both located in at the moment, complete with a big see through glass. he watched the equipment in quiet fascination, all expensive brands and their latest models. they were sitting in front of his imac now, but namjoon couldn’t stop observing every last detail of the room.

all the anxiety he’d been feeling up until that point washed away like a tidal wave. yoongi was smirking at him, he could see it from his peripheral vision, but he didn’t have the decency to feel embarrassed. he was living his _dream_. he’d never thought he’d find himself in this position. ever.

“you look like you’ve never been in a professional studio before,” yoongi commented and, well, he _had_ , just not this much professional. he borrowed the studio of one of his already graduated friends, hunchul, to record his mixtape but that was about it.

“sorry, hyung, but this is just so… incredible,” namjoon admitted.

“okay, okay, well enough of that before i get full of myself,” namjoon focused his attention to the imac’s large screen like yoongi instructed, occasionally sneaking glances in his direction just to watch his mouth move as he talked, “i really like your style. i’m gonna be honest, i didn’t expect much from a law student,” he briefly eyed namjoon in an apologetic way, but namjoon took no offense. he didn’t exactly scream _badass underground rapper_ with his fedoras, reading glasses and old-fashioned clothing style, “but you exceeded that and added some more. your lyrics are deep but the beat is powerful. it’s something donghyuk and i have been searching for for a while now.”

he commented on some of namjoon’s songs, his personal favorites, and namjoon desperately tried to pay attention. but yoongi looked so mesmerizing like this, concentrated on work and talking so passionately about something he loved, gesticulating with his arms and their knees accidentally brushing from time to time. for the umpteenth time since his obsession started, namjoon wished he could lean over and kiss him. for some reason, he imagined yoongi would show him how music tasted like.

when he proposed a collab, namjoon nearly fell out of his seat, “just you and me at first, and then if it’s good we can add donghyuk too,” yoongi smiled at his overreaction, “we’ve worked on some new material that we’re showcasing tomorrow so feel free to come. bring your friend, too. donghyuk’s been talking about him non-stop.”

“i’m sure hoseok would be delighted to know that,” namjoon snickered, storing the information away for later, “i don’t have any money for tickets, though.”

“this time it’s a free entry, so you don’t have to sweat it,” yoongi reassured him. namjoon’s ears immediately perked up, “after you hear our new stuff and if you’re still interested in working with us, just text me,” namjoon wanted to say that he’d collab with him even if he suddenly decided to convert to gospel, but bit back his tongue when yoongi passed him a slip of paper with his number on it, “i’ll be anxiously waiting for your reply.”

“don’t worry hyung, i’m sure your new stuff is great,” namjoon said, carefully storing the paper in his pants pocket like it was made of gold, “i was sure, too, but now i have an important person i need to impress,” yoongi admitted and namjoon swore his heart leaped into somersaults at that.

“now, i’d like you to explain some references in here to me,” yoongi said after a brief moment of silence in which namjoon thanked every entity that might exist for blessing him with this opportunity, “sadly, my knowledge of western culture is very limited,” namjoon was more than happy to educate yoongi on something, if not for the sole fact that he had to move so that they were sitting side by side now and he finally learned what yoongi’s scent was like. _sandalwood_ , he realized. and so, the two boys spent the next three hours discussing music and making jokes – easily making them the three best hours of namjoon’s life.

 

hoseok wasn’t used to waking up with anxiety on saturday mornings. the second he opened his eyes and saw the date on his phone screen, his stomach went into a frenzy. showering and eating breakfast that day proved a lot more difficult than usual.

> **10:44 hobi:** i’m going to kill u i cant believe u dragged me into this its all ur fault  
>  **10:45 runchranda:** whoa what happened to using emoticons after every second word  
>  **10:47 hobi:** :@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

he talked namjoon into going for a run with him that day, by some miracle. namjoon was probably still enduring the aftershocks of spending the entire night talking to the person he’d been idolizing for the past two years, but at least he was willing. they ended up taking breaks every fifteen minutes because namjoon got tired too easily. (“i am a _rapper_ , i don’t deserve to suffer like this,”, “you are also a future lawyer and you need to stay in shape in case you put a serial killer to jail.”) it was then that namjoon decided to mention the thing.

“so how come you didn’t tell me that donghyuk visited you in the lab this week,” he said while sipping on his peach ice tea, to which hoseok replied with a hasty, “how come you didn’t tell me you told yoongi about me,” _to which_ namjoon simply shrugged his shoulders, “well can you blame me for bragging about how socially skilled my best friend is?”

the conversation could continue only after hoseok had calmed down from nearly beating namjoon to death with his flavored water bottle, “i think he was trying to flirt with me. it was so bad. i thought i might die.”

“die because of how hot he is?” when hoseok sent him a murderous glare, namjoon started shaking with laughter, “come on you can’t deny that he’s hot.”

“that doesn’t mean i’m not creeped out by his attempts to flirt with me,” he defended himself. namjoon pointed out that hoseok got creeped out that one time when a little girl was staring at him for a second too long while eating her ice cream, and well, _okay_ , fine, hoseok might overreact in some life situations but donghyuk _wasn’t_ a little girl. donghyuk was six feet of muscle and sarcasm and innuendos that hoseok was sure would only get worse over time. it was way too much to take in at once.

“right, anyway, i have dance practice today so pick me up at eight at the studio and _don’t_ be late or i swear to god i’ll make sure you have nothing to fuck yoongi with,” he threw the now empty water bottle in the recycling bin next to the bench they were sitting on while namjoon sputtered nonsense.

“what makes you think i want to fuck him?!” he demanded, following hoseok along like a kicked puppy, “namjoon, you wouldn’t shut up about him since we were nineteen. even if you didn’t want to fuck him before, you definitely want to do so after you’ve actually _met_ him,” namjoon continued to speak gibberish that was easy for hoseok to ignore.

“what makes you think he’s a bottom, anyway,” he heard namjoon whisper after a while, eliciting a chuckle from him, “trust me on this, namjoon, i know a bottom when i see one. now, let’s run until that post there, shall we?” he sprinted forward before namjoon could protest.

 

as badly as hoseok wanted it to, dance practice couldn’t last forever. right before the clock struck eight, namjoon barged in through the door, interrupting their session, “party time is over kids, hoseok needs to go,” jimin whined and clung to hoseok’s back the entire time he was getting changed and hoseok even tried to use it as an excuse (“they _need_ me, namjoon. look at them. that’s like asking a bitch to leave her pups,”) but namjoon wasn’t having any of it.

the pub seemed to be filled with more people tonight. maybe it was the ‘no payment for free entertainment’ policy, or maybe it was the handsome bartender who managed to make both boys and girls swoon just from asking them for their name and preferred drink.

“it is a well-known fact that i bring in fifty percent of this pub’s profit,” seokjin explained while sliding a glass of wine and coke in hoseok’s direction. hoseok was surprised that he even remembered how he looked like, let alone what he drank last time, “i don’t understand why ikje just doesn’t give me a raise already.”

“right. that’s, uh, too bad?” hoseok offered, quickly downing the drink to avoid seokjin’s amused grin.

namjoon was positively beaming to be here, all ready to dive into the first rows. maybe he’d decapitate a few high school freshmen, but it was a risk he was willing to take, “this time, you’re coming with me,” hoseok immediately began to protest, claiming how he didn’t want a bunch of unknown nobodies touching him from all sides but namjoon didn’t leave any room for protest. he barely managed to leave his half empty glass on the counter top before namjoon was dragging him into the crowd.

“i hate people i hate people i hate people,” hoseok kept chanting next to him but he was grateful that namjoon never let go of his wrist, “don’t worry hoseokkie, just stick with me,” he would rather be thrown into a herd of angry cows to run for his life that admit it out loud that namjoon’s presence soothed him, at least a little. they made their way to the very front of the stage, surrounded by several girls with their faces covered with banners of SUPREME SUGA JJANG and YOONGI OPPA I LOVE YOU. namjoon chuckled at that, “maybe you should’ve brought your donghyuk banner too,” for which he paid for with an elbow digging into his stomach.

hoseok didn’t have to like donghyuk, or yoongi for that matter, to admit that they’ve significantly improved. they weren’t as dead on the stage as last time, now interacting with the audience, and the songs were a bit different, too. these were typical clubbing songs with a dance beat but the rap overlay was no joke.

“was this your influence?” hoseok screamed into namjoon’s ear over the loud music. namjoon shrugged his shoulders, “maybe it was the both of us.”

hoseok kind of liked the idea. he sincerely hoped that he wasn’t too obvious when he observed donghyuk’s hunched shoulders and fingers wrapped tightly around the microphone, the way the muscles in his legs tensed when he crouched to touch his fans’ hands. he stood in front of him at some point, too, smirking before reaching out and hoseok needed to be nudged to the side by namjoon to respond, the tips of their fingers brushing for a microsecond before donghyuk was up and about again, delivering his lines with practiced expertise.

“that was so romantic,” namjoon sighed next to him, “why can’t yoongi do stuff like that to me?”

“you speak like you’re already dating him,” hoseok teased. when namjoon’s lack of response stretched out for donghyuk’s entire verse, he turned around to look namjoon in the eye, “are you? dating? because if you are, damn, you work fast.”

“in my heart we’ve always been dating,” namjoon replied cheesily and hoseok punched him. but there was something about the way he said it, that had the undertones of _it’s just wishful thinking_ , that willed hoseok into not saying anything about the matter again.

when the last song finished two and a half hours later, the crowd positively exploded with cheers. loud chants of _encore encore encore_ hauntingly echoed through the room but yoongi fell on his knees and breathlessly begged for no more. everyone roared with laughter and then, it was over. they left the stage with a short bow.

back at the bar, seokjin was already waiting with fresh drinks, “on the house,” he said with his characteristically charming smile, and hoseok downed the alcohol in one gulp.

“i’m parched,” he admitted to a shocked namjoon, who only smirked, “yeah i bet you are,” hoseok kind of wished he could spit the drink back into the glass and throw it at him.

“one jack daniel’s, please,” hoseok heard a familiar voice say on his left. he whipped his head around so fast that he might’ve sprained a muscle in his neck; it _had_ cracked rather strangely, but that wasn’t so important right now, “ _jeongguk_?!”

when hoseok finally saw him, it all suddenly made sense. hoseok _had_ seen jeongguk before, in this exact place, maybe even this exact spot. his hair was styled upwards with lots of gel and his eyes were rimmed with coal colored eyeliner but hoseok knew he was right. that was definitely jeongguk.

“uh, hey hyung,” jeongguk greeted, a bit nervously. seokjin smoothly slid him a glass of jack daniel’s across the counter and it landed perfectly in jeongguk’s hands. it was obviously not the first time such thing happened, “are you even legal to drink?!” hoseok exclaimed, flabbergasted. namjoon was laughing hysterically behind him, while jeongguk’s uncomfortable smile only continued to grow.

“of course he is legal to drink, my brother has been regularly abusing the fact that he’s eighteen for the past six months,” came another person’s reply. judging from how stiff namjoon had suddenly gotten, hoseok guessed it was yoongi. and truly, the shorter boy walked towards them, lips stretched in a teasing smirk, and wrapped his brother in a hug, “hey, jeonggukkie, how did you like the show?”

“you were good,” jeongguk said after yoongi’d finally released him from his death grip, nodding to donghyuk who joined them not a moment later, “but that’s nothing new,” he swallowed the liquid in the glass and groaned at the initial bitter taste.

around that time yoongi stopped paying attention to his brother and turned to namjoon, all smiles and maybe a hint of nervousness there, as well, “i hope you haven’t changed your mind on working with me yet?” hoseok heard donghyuk rumble a “i thought you said he’d be working with _us_ ,” into his glass behind him and forced down the urge to laugh in his face. namjoon gathered his bearings just in time to force out a smooth, “i guess you’ll have to wait for my text to find out,” the laugh he’d received for that one was worth every heart palpitation he had experienced in that short period of time.

later that night, namjoon did something he’d never done before while sleeping over at hoseok’s place; around three in the morning, hoseok felt his mattress shift under a sudden weight that wasn’t his own. warmth enveloped him on all sides and through a hazy mind he realized that namjoon was spooning him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, one long leg wrapped around the two of his, his chin comfortably resting in the space between hoseok’s cheek and shoulder.

“whatthehellareyoudoing,” hoseok groaned, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. he tried to crane his neck and look at namjoon for answers, but the younger was hugging him too tightly for him to make any sort of movement, “couldn’t sleep,” came as a reply and hoseok couldn’t stop the sigh that left his lips.

“are you worrying about yoongi again,” he offered and waited for namjoon to nod. it took three full seconds and namjoon only curled up against him more after, “he hasn’t texted me back. what if he’s just playing a joke on me?”

“does min yoongi really seem like the type to waste his time playing jokes?” hoseok asked him, growing slightly irritated, “and since when are you so insecure about him, i thought you were certain to get into his pants.”

“i was,” namjoon said, and then, after a moment, “i am.”

“then maybe you should wait until morning before you start going all psycho on me, okay?” he felt namjoon nod against his skin again and relax, “what else?”

“what do you mean?”

“that can’t be all that’s bothering you if you have no intentions of going back to the living room,” namjoon hummed next to his ear, “you really know me too well, hobi,” he said proudly and hoseok’s groan was anything but flattered, “yeah, yeah, it’s a fact i’m not very proud of so let’s just get this over with before i physically kick you out of my bed,” they both knew that was impossible since namjoon was larger and heavier than him, but hoseok felt better about making empty threats to save his face. besides, it would hurt his reputation if he let namjoon know that he _was_ worried for his best friend.

“hobi, i failed my civil law exam,” he muttered, so quiet that were he not so close hoseok might’ve missed it, “i got a 45%. that never happened to me before.”

now that was new, “can you retake it?” hoseok asked. he slapped namjoon’s hand away so he’d let him turn around and properly face him. namjoon’s eyes were closed but he was gnawing on his lower lip with his teeth and looked every bit distressed, “i can but the retake is in a week and that’s how much time i spent studying for it originally.”

“whining about it won’t get you anywhere, let alone at the top of that list of exam takers,” hoseok said, hoping he sounded reassuring enough, “you are a genius, namjoon. you said so yourself. you probably failed it because you were too distracted by yoongi to concentrate on anything else,” namjoon’s halfhearted laugh told him he was right, “but you have to promise me that you won’t let yoongi distract you from studying this week, okay? and my competition is that weekend so you can relax afterwards.”

“can i invite yoongi too?” namjoon asked, now looking at hoseok in the eye, glistening with fake tears. he was doing the improved version of the puppy face and hoseok probably would’ve slapped him, but his hands were trapped underneath namjoon’s.

“sure, if you want,” hoseok gritted his teeth, “i guess the more the merrier.”

“wow if i didn’t know you any better i’d think you were jealous,” this time namjoon _did_ get a light kick in the groin and howled in mock hurt, “how about you just give them a chance?”

“i suppose yoongi seems all right,” hoseok admitted, albeit reluctantly, “but i don’t want to see donghyuk ever again,” images of his smirking face and nicely shaped arms flooded his brain before hoseok could stop them and _boy_ , was he threading on dangerous territory.

“right. sure. like you wouldn’t let him eat your ass if he offered,” namjoon was mid-yawn when hoseok shoved him off the bed and he elegantly landed on the floor, “don’t bother coming up,” hoseok informed him before settling into his original position, hugging one of the pillows closer to his body. he faintly heard namjoon mutter, “i hope donghyuk gets better treatment in the bedroom,” but was too tired to properly punish him for it. salt instead of sugar in namjoon’s morning coffee would have to suffice.

 

> **16:20 hobi:** first of all why does donghyuk know my schedule  
>  **16:20 hobi:** second of all WHY DOES HE KNOW ABOUT MY COMPETITION ON SUNDAY  
>  **16:21 hobi:** IF YOU INVITED HIM I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU

sending the texts, hoseok completely excluded the more probable possibility that donghyuk was invited because jeongguk, who was also performing, was yoongi’s brother; but to be fair, he _was_ too furious to think properly. donghyuk’s very existence irritated him for reasons that weren’t entirely negative in nature.

namjoon hadn’t replied until well into the evening; an entire evening hoseok had to spend with donghyuk pestering him. the rapper relentlessly followed him absolutely everywhere; he even tried going after him in the bathroom until hoseok hysterically screamed at him to back off, patience worn thinner than thread.

“why are you following me,” hoseok insisted once they finally settled in a fast food restaurant with a tray filled to the top with junk food in front of them, “yoongi is busy and i’m bored so i figured why not bother you?” hoseok wished that his french fries were sharp enough to stab donghyuk in the neck vein. although, he supposed, the eyes were pretty sensitive too…

“go bother someone else, then,” and by that point, hoseok had forgotten all about being scared of donghyuk. the more he got to know him, the more he realized that he was just an annoying brat who couldn’t take no for an answer. (although, that wasn’t an entirely fair accusation, considering that deep, deep down, hoseok didn’t mind his company all that much. in reality, donghyuk was only two thirds annoying.)

be as it may, donghyuk stayed by his side until hoseok’s phone buzzed, indicating that namjoon texted him back. ‘ _sorry got caught up with stuff come to my dorm tonight_ ’ the text said and hoseok couldn’t stop the frown from forming. donghyuk glanced at his phone screen and let out a sigh right next to hoseok’s ear, causing the latter to jump, “ah that must mean yoongi is done too. well, I’ll be on my way then,” startled by donghyuk’s sudden announcement of departure, hoseok blurted out a rushed, “wait.”

donghyuk was trying really hard not to look amused when he lifted an eyebrow mid-getting up from his seat while hoseok searched for a way to save face. his eyes landed on donghyuk’s unfinished drink and he hastily thrust it into his hands, “don’t forget your slushie,” then went back to replying to namjoon’s text.

“right, how silly of me,” hoseok didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking in triumph, “I’ll see you sunday, hobi,” hoseok was seriously tempted to throw his leftover fries at him, but he didn’t want to cause a scene. instead, he just shouted an irritated, “don’t call me that!” at donghyuk’s retreating back, achieving absolutely nothing.

 

“he kissed me,” was the first thing namjoon had said when he opened the door for hoseok.

“what,” hoseok was still too distracted by donghyuk and how nice his nickname sounded coming from donghyuk’s lips and the outfit donghyuk was wearing and how pretty donghyuk’s fingers were for namjoon’s words to fully settle in his brain, “wait, _what_?!”

they sat down on namjoon’s worn out couch, facing each other in a lotus position. namjoon’s dorm was small and mostly bare of any sort of decoration, the only exception being a picture of the two of them when they were fifteen; the only proper picture that was taken of them in all twenty years of friendship they’ve been nursing. various books were scattered along the floor of the room, indicating that namjoon took hoseok’s words seriously and started thoroughly preparing for his exam the following day on time.

“he kissed me,” namjoon repeated and holy shit, was he _blushing_? “i was talking about this song i’ve been working on, and then – well i don’t know what happened but he just told me to shut up and kissed me.”

“what the fuck,” hoseok breathed out and namjoon nodded in agreement, “i was so shocked. he was, too, i guess he didn’t expect it to happen so soon and he said not to mention it ever again or he was going to kill me and we just continued working.”

“this is incredible,” hoseok dug his fingers deep into namjoon’s knee, “what’s next? you’re going to fuck in his studio? is he going to ask you to marry him soon? this is like the kim kardashian situation all over again. does that make me khloe? i like her. she seems nice,” namjoon had absolutely no idea what hoseok was saying but his knee cap seriously started to hurt, “hoseok can you please let go before I lose my knee,” hoseok _did_ let go but he was still too distracted to give namjoon his full attention.

“we are not getting married, stop it,” namjoon grabbed hoseok’s fingers ticking off an invisible bucket list in front of him in his fists, “it was probably just an accident. the song we were working on was pretty heavy on innuendo. he must’ve gotten caught up in the moment.”

“heavy on innuendo,” hoseok repeated, “do you even hear yourself?”

a moment of silence lingered between them before namjoon admitted defeat, “okay we might be getting married just a little bit.”

“that’s more like it,” hoseok grinned, “now, tell me everything.”

there wasn’t really much to tell, it seemed. yoongi was helping namjoon with creating rhymes when he just leaned in closer and pecked him on the lips. it was obvious that neither boy expected it to happen and yoongi got embarrassed about it immediately, “it was so cute, you should’ve seen him, he looked like a lost puppy. ‘okay, that never happened, i’m sorry, i don’t know what came over me’, and we just continued working,” there was something regretful in namjoon’s tone, maybe the way he reacted to the kiss, but hoseok couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“i can’t believe this. you spent two years stalking the dude only to get into his pants after a few weeks,” hoseok smashed namjoon’s cheeks with his palms, cooing at him like he was a two year old baby, “look at my namjoonie all grown up, i’m so proud of you. you weren’t kidding when you said you could slide those panties off,” hoseok decided to be the good guy and ignore the rising blush on namjoon’s tan skin, although all he got in return for his efforts was a slap over the head.

 

hoseok was nervous.

in reality, that wasn’t anything new since hoseok was nervous roughly all the time, but he was _especially_ nervous now. he stood backstage with one third of his team, jeongguk, while jimin was nowhere to be seen.

jeongguk was on edge just like him, constantly jumping up and down on the balls of his feet and cracking his knuckles in an annoying way. he didn’t stop even after hoseok barked at him to, which said a lot. jeongguk always listened to him. hoseok started pacing around the room, checking the clock for time every two minutes. their performance was supposed to begin at nine, unless jimin was late. hoseok hoped, for the sake of jimin’s life and health, that nothing serious had happened to prevent him from coming.

“hyung i need to talk to you,” jeongguk spoke up suddenly, causing hoseok’s movements to halt mid-step forward. he turned around carefully, craning his neck like an owl, eyes wide, cautious and curious, “what about?”

they ended up standing in the middle of the room because jeongguk insisted they stretch before the performance. jeongguk had hoseok’s back lined up with his and their elbows hooked, ready to lift him up, when he said his next words, “remember what we talked about last time?”

“about you being legal to drink?” hoseok’s question morphed into a groan when his spine cracked after jeongguk lifted him up, “no, about… when i asked you if you like namjoon hyung,” hoseok thought about it for a while and, _oh_. yeah. he remembered.

“what about it?” he inquired a moment later, now positioned in a crouch while jeongguk stretched over him.

“there was a reason i asked you about it,” and well, hoseok’s IQ might not be as high as namjoon’s but that much he could figure out on his own. they switched exercises and sat on the floor with their legs outstretched before them, the soles of their feet pressed flat against each other. hoseok reached out to grab their hands and pulled jeongguk forward, “i’ve been thinking about it a lot these days.”

“about me and namjoon?” hoseok asked, completely confused by now. he wasn’t sure what jeongguk was implying behind his words. he let go of jeongguk’s hands but the younger didn’t pull him forward like he was supposed to.

“hyung,” jeongguk sounded desperate, begging for his full attention, and hoseok admitted he always had a bit of an issue with that. he focused entirely on jeongguk’s face – not his eyes, because he might lose confidence, but the area around his nose and cheekbones, which was high enough, but not _too_ high, “i think i might be gay.”

oh. well, that was an interesting turn of conversation, “what, uh, what makes you think so?” hoseok tried his best not to sound judgmental, or like he was doubting him. jeongguk was young, but hoseok was young too, when he took the possibility in consideration. maybe even younger than jeongguk himself, “actually, i don’t know if i’m gay. i just. i really like jimin,” and there it was. the puzzle pieces slowly started to connect until hoseok was able to fill in the plot holes himself.

“you think you might be in love with him?” jeongguk nodded, “that doesn’t have to mean you’re gay.”

“but i thought being in love with someone of your own sex automatically means that you’re gay,” jeongguk seemed less tense as more words left his mouth, found it easier to talk about it, “yoongi hyung talked about it before, but i was too scared to ask him.”

“so you came to me, huh?” hoseok wasn’t sure if he should this feel flattered that he held answers yoongi didn’t, “well let me tell you something. you are one hundred percent surrounded by queer men.”

jeongguk gawked at him and hoseok barely resisted the urge to laugh, “i think i’m quite obvious. your brother, too. he and namjoon even kissed. namjoon is like you, actually,” when jeongguk’s expression twisted in confusion, hoseok rushed to elaborate, “meaning he was never in love with anyone before yoongi and it sort of stuck. he doesn’t look at other men romantically or sexually. he’s just always been yoongi’s.”

“but they’re not dating,” jeongguk pointed out, but hoseok simply shrugged his shoulders, “for now, that is.”

“and you and namjoon… i mean you two are really close, you’ve never…?”

“absolutely not!” hoseok felt offended at the very implication, “i’m too gentle for that bastard,” jeongguk wanted to point out that hoseok wasn’t gentle at all but his attention was already drifting somewhere else, towards the door, where jimin stood, and his stomach started constricting automatically.

“oh good to see you there, jimin,” hoseok chirped a bit _too_ cheerfully, jumping up to his feet and helping jeongguk up, “just in time to go over the choreography ten more times to make sure we don’t make any mistakes and irreversibly shame ourselves in public,” he didn’t leave any room for argument, or gave jimin time to greet them properly before they were shoved into a familiar formation for their dance routine.

 

it probably  should’ve been worrying that the first person he noticed in the gathering crowd wasn’t namjoon, or even yoongi standing next to him, but donghyuk.

he looked sinfully good, dressed in all black with his hair messy like he’d just gotten out of bed. maybe he had. hoseok was sure he couldn’t be just sleeping in that bed for his hair to look like that, but he didn’t want to think about the various possibilities now.

he saw namjoon from the corner of his eye giving him a thumbs up, followed by yoongi who clapped twice. only then did he realize that donghyuk was holding a HOSEOK FIGHTING banner and hoseok swore to kill all three of them slowly and painfully after their performance was over.

their group was announced third and hoseok allowed himself to get lost in the music. the choreography they’ve come up with was complicated because the song was jumpy and required a lot of movement to keep the dancing fluid, but he was certain they’d managed to perfect it. lord knows how many times he went over the smallest details and how much hair he’d ripped out in frustration when he forgot his moves after jimin’s solo.

luckily, everything went perfectly fine. he hadn’t made any mistakes and even jeongguk was able to concentrate. they made brief eye contact during one part of the song, in which jeongguk seemed to be nothing short of happy, so that was a relief. the song ended with a bang and hoseok on the floor, legs spread in a split and he lived for the cheers that the crowd erupted in afterwards.

hoseok met the insidious three backstage. jimin was throwing water on him when they walked in. it wasn’t a very flattering position to be seen in.

“that was so good, holy shit,” namjoon exclaimed, lifting hoseok up in a hug despite the fact that hoseok was completely drenched, “hobi you’re incredible i’m so proud of you!”

“put me down this instant,” hoseok demanded, but it did feel nice to be praised. he accepted yoongi’s handshake a bit awkwardly and suavely avoided donghyuk’s attempt to congratulate him by turning to back to namjoon, “do you think we might have a chance of winning?”

“you were the best performers tonight,” namjoon assured him, although hoseok didn’t buy it, “there are three more groups after us, namjoon.”

“that’s not important. what’s important is that you were the best. they’re most likely too nervous because you’ve set the bar too high and they’ll fuck up somehow. then the prize is surely yours,” sometimes, hoseok had to love the way namjoon’s brain worked.

“even seokjin came to watch you three,” yoongi said from somewhere behind him and it took a while for hoseok to realize that he moved to stand next to his brother, “but we lost him to some lilac haired boy a while ago.”

“oh god,” they heard jimin groan from the floor, “taehyung is going to eat him alive.”

“you know him?” yoongi frowned, “i’m pretty sure seokjin can handle him,” jimin’s smirk was unsettling, “you’ve obviously never met taehyung then.”

namjoon let hoseok go to breathe into yoongi’s face and donghyuk used that opportunity to take his place. hoseok was drinking water when donghyuk appeared next to him, causing him to choke, “he’s right though, you were the best,” donghyuk said and there was no hint of teasing or ill intentions behind his words. if anything, he sounded genuinely impressed, “uh, thank you,” hoseok nodded, feeling the uncomfortable prickling of heat rising up his neck and to his cheeks, not entirely because of the lack of air in his lungs, “don’t mention it. i’m just saying the truth,” surprisingly, he didn’t stay to bother him long after that, announcing that he had somewhere else to be.

“well, that was weird,” hoseok said out loud and yoongi burst into laughter, “he probably went to jerk off or something. the poor guy’s been so distressed,” namjoon found that fact hilarious, but hoseok wasn’t particularly amused.  he finished the rest of the water bottle quickly but it left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

 

the kiss had put some sort of a strain to namjoon and yoongi’s growing friendship and namjoon found it difficult to ignore, as much as he tried to do so, for yoongi’s sake before anything else. it was just too hard to forget how yoongi’s lips had felt against his, and how pliant he was in his arms for those two seconds. maybe, if namjoon hadn’t chickened out, since it was his first kiss after all, maybe he could’ve pulled yoongi closer, maybe cause him to gasp in surprise and bite down on his lower lip. he’d been thinking about it more than usual since the incident.

this time wasn’t any different. the following weeks were spent working, recording and writing lyrics with occasional food and movie breaks and namjoon had honestly never felt happier. the only thing that could possibly be on par with his ‘date nights with yoongi’ as he liked to call them in his head were his hangouts with hoseok, which significantly lessened. but namjoon didn’t want to think about his best friend right now. he would much rather concentrate on the hand that was resting casually on his thigh, and wasn’t his own.

yoongi probably wasn’t aware of what he was doing, but his index finger started tracing concentric circles over the exposed flesh of namjoon’s thigh. his shorts had ridden up when he sat down, revealing more and more skin with each shift he made, and yoongi’s hand only traveled higher. namjoon kept quiet most of the time, scared of how high pitched his voice might come out if he tried to speak.

“we need to fix the bridge here,” yoongi pointed out with his other free hand and namjoon liked to think it was because he didn’t want to move the one on his thigh from its position, “it doesn’t exactly fit.”

namjoon had to clear his throat before answering, “yeah, how about we switch that beat to the beginning and change the lyrics in the middle?” yoongi turned to look at him then, and namjoon lost all his confidence.

“actually that would fit really well. boy they don’t call you a genius for nothing,” his hand hadn’t moved an inch and namjoon found himself growing frustrated.

“hyung,” he called out and yoongi lifted an eyebrow in question, “can i tell you something? it’s more like a confession, though.”

“of course, namjoon, you can tell me anything,” yoongi had to move then so he could face him, the warmth of his hand disappearing from namjoon’s thigh and namjoon had never felt quite so empty before, “what’s up?”

“the kiss,” he said carefully, watching out for the sharp intakes of breath yoongi took as he calculated his next words. in the end, he decided to just be direct, “i can’t stop thinking about it.”

yoongi was silent for a while, contemplating. he didn’t seem to upset, but then again yoongi never seemed much of anything, although namjoon supposed he would’ve been kicked out of the studio by now if yoongi truly minded the change in conversation, “you want the truth?” and namjoon nodded because, of course, he wanted nothing but the truth from yoongi, “i can’t stop thinking about it either.”

namjoon’s heartbeat quickened. he couldn’t believe the words he was hearing, “really?” it came out a lot shakier than he intented it to, but yoongi didn’t notice, or didn’t comment on it at least, “that’s a relief.”

“not exactly,” yoongi was smirking now, regaining his confidence, and namjoon grew suspicious, “a relief would be me kissing you again. and some more, after that, if you’d let me.”

namjoon was too shocked to react anyhow else but with an enthusiastic nod. yoongi took the opportunity to lean in, the fingers of his right hand interlacing with namjoon’s resting on his leg, licking his lips before he kissed him.

it felt even better than the last time. maybe it was because it lasted longer, but namjoon couldn’t tell you that for sure. his response was automatic; he kissed yoongi back with astonishing fervor, fingers tightening around yoongi’s and pulling him closer, so that yoongi would circle his arms around namjoon’s waist and twist his neck to the right to give him better access to his lips. he sucked in a shaky breath when yoongi’s palms landed on his lower back, cupping yoongi’s cheeks from both sides as he sucked on his tongue.

there was a couch in yoongi’s studio which he used when working on a particularly difficult project for his music class and couldn’t return to the dorm on time to sleep. he guided namjoon out of his seat and swallowed his protests of “but hyung what about the song,” and “where are we going i want to be close to you,” to push him down on the leather cushions. he straddled namjoon’s hips, legs on both sides of namjoon’s thighs, and molded their bodies together to kiss him again, more hungrily this time. he could feel namjoon growing hard beneath him, grinding down on purpose just to hear namjoon moan against his lips.

“mmm feels good,” namjoon murmured when yoongi licked his lower lip, worried it between his sharp teeth and released it with a _pop_. namjoon couldn’t resist ghosting his fingers over yoongi’s bony hips, underneath the t-shirt he was wearing, to trace the faintest hints of abdomen muscles and prominent ribs. yoongi was so thin that if namjoon tired, he could wrap his two hands around him; or maybe it was just the fact that namjoon had huge hands. either way, he let them roam yoongi’s back and front, finally landing on the curve of yoongi’s ass, where they squeezed and kneaded the soft flesh. no song by any of his favorite artists could compare to the groan yoongi let out next to his ear, “you like that?” namjoon teased, earning himself a slap on the neck, because it was the only place yoongi could reach properly.

they took their time taking off their clothes, mostly because yoongi’s newly revealed skin kept namjoon too distracted to focus on anything else. he was gentle in exploring his body, kissing every part that he could, nibbling the skin underneath his jawline and around his clavicles, his touch burning hot on yoongi’s body. however, yoongi grew impatient and restless pretty quickly, rutting his ass against namjoon’s steadily hardening dick as a reminder that he was still supposed to do _something_ about it. namjoon cursed and grabbed hold of yoongi’s wrists, leading his right hand to the zipper of his pants, urging him to take them off himself.

yoongi did as he was wordlessly asked to, lowering his head along with namjoon’s pants and boxers until it was aligned with namjoon’s cock, where he could properly lavish it with his tongue and _oh god,_ namjoon thought, _we are progressing too fast_. sudden fear built up in his chest and he buried his fingers into yoongi’s hair, tugging lightly to get his attention. yoongi looked up, eyes wide and cheek nuzzling his dick and it did absolutely nothing to calm down namjoon’s nerves.

“come on back up,” he pleaded and yoongi obeyed immediately. he kissed him again, if only to distract himself from the anxiety threatening to eat him alive, and yoongi could sense that something was wrong, “are you okay?” he asked once their lips parted enough that he could speak without it sounding unintelligible, “yeah, just,” namjoon trailed off, unsure. his hands were back on yoongi’s ass but they didn’t move, just laid there frozen in place, “don’t you think this is a bit…”

“too much?” yoongi offered and namjoon only nodded, “well i don’t know, this can go one out of two ways. either you finger me until i come over your chest, or we just make out for a while and go back to work,” namjoon’s shocked reaction elicited an amused chuckle from yoongi, “i wouldn’t mind any of those options. it’s up to you what you consider too much.”

“you done this before?” namjoon asked, although the answer was pretty obvious, “not everyone is a prude like you and hoseok,” yoongi laughed and namjoon probably had a snarky reply to that but yoongi interrupted him with a peck on the lips, “it’s okay, though. i understand if you don’t want to. i told you, making out is just fine.”

namjoon was kind of relieved that yoongi didn’t push him into doing anything further, although at some point during their messy make out session his hands _did_ end up in namjoon’s boxers, excusing himself with a playful grin and a “i can’t resist, it’s so pretty,” which made namjoon flush a deep red from the tips of his toes to the roots of his hair. kissing yoongi felt just right then, and it might’ve been lazy and sloppy but it was warm and familiar, and later, when yoongi ordered takeout and they sat in front of his imac to watch a movie instead of finishing the song, yoongi’s cheek rested on namjoon’s shoulder and stayed there. it felt nice. it felt like home.

yoongi was home.

 

at the same time while namjoon was having the best time of his life, hoseok was having the worst.

they won the competition and the coach requested them to perfect another routine by next month but both jimin and jeongguk had suspiciously fallen ill, showing similar symptoms, so they couldn’t practice at all. on top of that, the amount of schoolwork hoseok had been neglecting piled up to the point where he had to sacrifice sleep to catch up with everything; it had reached a point where he nearly fell asleep in the lab while handling explosive chemicals and almost set the entire faculty on fire. he was kicked out of the lab like a humiliated puppy. he tried complaining about it to namjoon, but his best friend had been ditching him for weeks now in favor of spending more time with yoongi. adding the fact that his entire body was sore from lack of sleep and the excessive exercises during dance practice, hoseok was just about ready to give up on everything.

he was stretching his legs when donghyuk entered the practice room, “what are you doing here,” hoseok sighed, not even surprised anymore, “i came to pick up jeongguk. yoongi couldn’t make it,” donghyuk stopped right in front of him and hoseok had to look up to face him properly. donghyuk seemed a bit fidgety, like something was bothering him, “tough luck then. jeongguk called in sick.”

“really? yoongi hadn’t informed me about it,” donghyuk sneered, crouching down next to hoseok so he didn’t have to bend his neck so much, “what are you up to,” he asked, eyes fixated on hoseok’s legs currently spread in a split, and hoseok’s upper body stretched to the left so he could reach his toes with the tips of his fingers.

“isn’t it obvious what i’m doing? i’m stretching,” hoseok answered, although he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and pass out for a few hours in that exact position, “can you go away now i’m busy,” donghyuk’s smile was too light to reach his eyes, “you’re always busy when i want to talk to you.”

hoseok replied only after he’d stretched his other leg too, and finally sat into a normal position, “maybe you just have really bad timing. ever thought about that?”

“point taken,” they fell into a silence that was comfortable for donghyuk but awkward for hoseok, until donghyuk spoke up again, “hoseok. do you want to go on a date with me?”

“what?” hoseok sputtered, his arms that he was leaning on shaking and giving out. if he hadn’t reacted on time, he would’ve fallen over, “when?”

“right now,” donghyuk grinned mischievously, “where could we possibly go right now,” hoseok frowned at him, but then donghyuk was pulling him up on his feet and shoving him towards the dressing rooms so he could change, saying, “i know a place.”

‘the place’ ended up being a rusty, old building that looked nothing special on the outside. the façade at the front was already worn out and the color had faded, some of it even missing at some parts, and generally, hoseok wasn’t impressed, “did you take me here to kill me?” when donghyuk didn’t answer right away, deciding to just go into the building instead with a chuckle, hoseok seriously began to freak out, “yah! answer me!” he followed him inside anyway.

the inside, however, was by far the most beautifully decorated place hoseok had ever seen. the building was vast on the inside, walls covered in paintings and ornaments, statues and busts of world famous figures on every corner, with golden patterned columns and chandeliers made of crystal. donghyuk led him to a door and commanded him to be quiet. hoseok didn’t see the point since the door creaked while donghyuk was opening them, but he didn’t mention it out loud.

the inside of the room was a movie theatre. there weren’t a lot of people inside and most of them were ranging between fifty and eighty five years of age. a black and white movie hoseok didn’t recognize was playing on the projection screen , but judging from the language the men on it were speaking, it was something in english. donghyuk found them two empty seats at the far back, “sorry for not bringing snacks. it was kind of a last minute decision,” he said after they’d settled down, “maybe one day i’ll find it in my heart to forgive you,” hoseok replied.

“i have no idea what’s going on,” hoseok admitted after about five minutes of trying, and epically failing, to grasp the basic plot of the movie. the korean subtitles didn’t help much, since hoseok was clueless as to who terry malloy and father barry were, “that’s okay. maybe i brought you here just so i could make out with you in peace,” hoseok might’ve been a head smaller than donghyuk, but he could land a punch when necessary, “you are such a pervert,” he complained.

despite being in such close proximity to someone like donghyuk, hoseok found himself relaxing in his seat. the movie was distracting enough to calm his restless thoughts. the soft music coming from the speakers behind them and the sounds of donghyuk’s rhythmical breathing lulled him into a sort of a slumber and when he woke up, donghyuk’s hand was resting comfortably on top of his, the boy’s eyes closed. the credits had almost finished rolling and the theatre was empty of people sans them.

“if your idea of a date is to fall asleep to a boring movie then i must say, i’m not impressed,” hoseok teased and donghyuk’s eyes shot open. he rubbed the tiredness out of his tear ducts and ceremoniously yawned before springing back onto his feet, “come on then. let me bedazzle you.”

the short nap he’d taken did wonders, though. he found it a lot easier to keep up with donghyuk’s hyper activeness that hit him full force once they were outside again, breathing in the fresh spring night air.

the path they’d taken back to hongdae was different than hoseok’s usual route and he didn’t know where they were going until he recognized the beginnings of a familiar street. he kept close to donghyuk’s side because the sidewalks were filled with people, with it being a busy saturday and all, their fingers brushing from time to time and hoseok did a really good job at pretending it didn’t make his heart hiccup.

donghyuk was, as hoseok learned, a very simple person. now, hoseok wasn’t flashy, or expected special treatment of some sort, but he never would’ve guessed that he’d have fun simply from walking aimlessly and stumbling into random shops right before closing time just to piss the owner off, and talking about life or basically anything that came to mind over a heated cup of instant ramyun in front of a convenience store. donghyuk was also a very fun person to talk to, when he wasn’t being mean or teasing him or making inappropriate jokes.

donghyuk walked him back to his apartment around eleven pm. the renewed adrenaline still pumped through his veins and shockingly, hoseok realized that he didn’t want this night to end, “this is me,” he said, pointing to the front door of his apartment building. the events of the past few hours only started to fully hit him now and he became hyper aware of just _how_ physically close to donghyuk he’d gotten at some point, so close that he could smell his cologne clearly now, could feel the heat that was radiating off his body through his whole being.

“i had fun,” he continued, clearing his throat a bit awkwardly. donghyuk hadn’t said anything for a while now, just watched him with a strange expression on his face that hoseok couldn’t quite decipher and it unsettled him for whatever reason, “tonight. it was fun. thank you.”

“the pleasure was all mine,” donghyuk smiled cockily, followed by a curt bow, and it made hoseok believe that this date wasn’t entirely spontaneous, “well, i should probably go inside now,” hoseok imitated donghyuk’s earlier bow and waved stiffly before he turned towards the building entrance, feeling strangely empty now that they had to part.

“i’ll see you soon, hobi!” he heard donghyuk yell behind him, voice trailing off into background noise of passing cars and dog barks and hoseok was half tempted to watch him go until he disappeared around the corner. in the end, he just checked his post box for any bills he might’ve missed and climbed up the four flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator. the fatigue didn’t completely overwhelm him until he was lying on his bed, comfortably wrapped in thick blankets. he fell asleep fairly quickly, his last thought being of donghyuk’s lips.

 

> **17:01 runchranda:** hey

hoseok was eating lunch when the text arrived. he briefly checked his phone when the notification light started pulsing, but didn’t bother to answer until almost fifteen minutes later, after the empty bowls and dirtied utensils were safely placed inside of the kitchen sink.

> **17:16 hobi:** oh so you still remember i exist

namjoon’s reply was instant. _he must be feeling really guilty_ , hoseok thought.

> **17:16 runchranda:** sorry about that  
>  **17:17 runchranda:** wanna meet up  
>  **17:17 runchranda:** i miss you

hoseok contemplated whether he should just leave him on ‘read’ and invest some quality time in his studies, but frankly, he missed namjoon too. it had been way too long since he talked to him, and there was so much to _tell_.

> **17:18 hobi:** alright  
>  **17:18 hobi:** meet me at the riverbank at 7

they found themselves sitting on one of the benches where they could only be seen if you really looked for them, drinking canned beer and watching the water bathed in artificial city lights, “we don’t even like beer,” hoseok mentioned, but namjoon only shrugged his shoulders.

“so what have you been up to these days,” hoseok asked and namjoon immediately went on a rampage – how he and yoongi finished two songs already, how yoongi’s graduation project is coming along nicely, how he and yoongi almost had sex and – “wait, _what_?!”

“yeah. we were, like, this close,” there was no space left between namjoon’s thumb and index finger, “but i chickened out. i kind of regret it now, but not really.”

“you are such a dweeb. it’s actually incredible,” hoseok deadpanned. namjoon grinned and nudged his side, “i missed you spitting insults at me all the time,” his grin was addictive and hoseok ended up smiling widely as well, “yeah, i missed it too.”

his retelling of his impromptu date with donghyuk couldn’t go without namjoons _ooh_ s and _ahh_ s and hoseok ended up irritating his knuckles from how many times he planted them into namjoon’s thigh, “he’s actually pretty sweet,” hoseok said into the can, but namjoon heard him loud and clear, “for a fuckboy.”

“alright well don’t forget i’m still the best man on your wedding,” his laughter lasted even through hoseok’s horrified screams of “there will be no wedding!” and “i don’t even like him that much!” after they’d calmed down, hoseok rested his head on namjoon’s shoulder, sighing in content.

“can you believe that we both have boyfriends now,” namjoon said, and hoseok was ready to protest that donghyuk _wasn’t_ his boyfriend (not yet, at least, though he didn’t have to mention that part aloud) but namjoon didn’t allow himself to be interrupted, “i mean, look at us. a twink and a nerd. the world truly works in the most wondrous ways.”

“speak for yourself, i could get a boyfriend at any time if i wanted to,” hoseok muttered, his eyelids closing on instinct. he couldn’t deny that he missed this.

“hoseok. you freak out when you see a dog running towards you so you could pet it,” and, well, that _might_ be true, but who wouldn’t? dogs could be vicious, “but i’m glad. these past few months were fun.”

“of course they were fun for you, now that you’re getting some. you insatiable stallion,” hoseok offered his beer can for namjoon to knock it with his own, “shall we make a toast?”

“mmm, toast sounds wonderful. you should make it for breakfast tomorrow,” namjoon hummed, but knocked hoseok’s can anyway, “cheers to us. for… not being as lame as usual this year?”

“right. cheers to that,” they drank up the warm beer in one gulp, spitting everything out only a second after. that night, they watched the stars until it got too cold to stay outside in just a plain t-shirt and shorts, and namjoon woke up in the morning to the smell of freshly baked toast and hoseok’s curses of donghyuk’s name coming from the kitchen.


End file.
